Kitsu Saga

This game has been SHUT DOWN – It is NO LONGER available. This means the official servers are offline and no one can create new accounts or log in to the game. For all intents and purposes this game is dead. This page will be updated if the game ever re-launches.

Kitsu Saga Overview

Kitsu Saga is a martial arts themed MMORPG wherein players from two previously warring factions must unite to combat a new evil force that has arrived. Filled with diverse regions and towns, Kitsu Saga offers traditional MMORPG gameplay with plenty of twists. For example, players are accompanied by fox spirits called Kitsu. The game has eight classes, called disciplines, each of which has a variety of skills and growth paths. Originally known as JS Online in Asia, Aeria Games has brought Kitsu Saga to Western gamers.

Order of the Iron Claw

Godhand Style - Trained to be at the forefront of battle. Godhand Style fighters use sabers and duel weapons. Suggested Growth: Strong or Fast.

Kitsu Saga Screenshots

Kitsu Saga Featured Video

Full Review

Kitsu Saga Review

By Erhan Altay

Kitsu Saga is a martial arts themed MMORPG by X-Legend, the same Korean developer behind Grand Fantasia. The game is published in the West by Aeria Games and entered closed beta testing on October 1st, 2010. The graphic style is more mature than Grand Fantasia, but has distinct visuals that help it stand out from similar titles. Players are accompanied on their adventures by Fox spirits called Kitsu.

The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend

If the martial arts theme didn’t give it away, Kitsu Saga is set in an oriental fantasy world populated by demons, thieves, and stray animals. Things weren’t always so bad. Not long ago, the Order of the Iron Claw and the Flamewind Society were content killing one another. When a new dark power emerged, the two factions were forced to call a truce and work together against the followers of the Golden Dharma King. Players can select between these two factions when creating a new character. Each faction has four distinct classes called ‘’disciplines.’ The disciplines are named after weapon styles so they may sound exotic, but by reading the descriptions players should be able to figure out how they function. For example, the Godhand style uses sabers and dual weapons, and is a warrior class. But players don’t pick their disciplines during character creation – there’s a quest for that later on.

Growth Factor

Kitsu Saga has a fairly in-depth character creation process. After selecting their faction, players must chose their gender and from three body types. Both gender and body type play a role in Kitsu Saga and the effect is different for each gender and body combination. Generally speaking, smaller characters gain bonuses towards their intelligence and chi (mana) while larger characters gain bonus hit points and strength. Players must also select their growth trend from five choices. These effect which stats are given priority as the character levels up. The eight available disciplines combined with the various body type and growth combinations leads to a huge variety of possible characters. The appearance customization options are sparse; there are half a dozen hair styles, hair colors, skin colors, and three eye colors available. Even though players don’t chose their class right away, planning ahead is recommended in order to build the most efficient character.

Story Book Adventures

Immediately upon logging in, players will notice the distinct art style in Kitsu Saga. I haven’t seen anything like it, but it works well. The graphic options allow for a variety of resolutions, but an annoying bloom effect is turned on by default. The controls are simple and allow for either W,A,S,D or point-and-click movement. While keyboard movement is functional, I found it a bit awkward. Point-and-click just feels more fluid in Kitsu Saga. Luckily, players won’t have to do a whole lot of manual movement in the first place. Kitsu Saga has an auto-navigation system and quest driven progression. The auto-navigate feature takes players to and from NPCs, and right to the monster spawns they have to defeat as part of their objective. Unlike many other Asian MMORPGs, Kitsu Saga doesn’t rely on underlined quest objectives – instead players simply click the ‘go’ button next to a quest objective and are on their way. This makes the quest log and the quest tracker easier to read, as there are no red and yellow underlined words. The character screen, inventory, and other interface menus are simple, but a bit dull.

Storing Energy

The experience rate in Kitsu Saga is relatively high (so long as players stick to questing). Unlike other free-to-play MMORPGs, many of the quests in Kitsu Saga are repeatable. There are usually plenty of available quests near the same level range, so repeating the same one is more than once or twice is optional. As players level up, they won’t receive stat points to distribute or skill points to allocate. Instead, there are two distinct experience meters that fill up at different rates. This is similar to the system used in games like Silkroad Online. Both bars are located above the hotkey bar. The experience meter is in blue, while the energy meter is in red. Energy is required to train and upgrade skills. All players start with a basic skill book that can be used to train basic skills, but after choosing their discipline at around level 7, players are given a new skill book that corresponds to their new class. Players won’t be able to learn every new skill (at least not to a sufficient rank0, so they’ll have to chose how to specialize their character.

Spirits and Demons

Combat in Kitsu Saga can be initiated by right clicking on a target, or using a skill on it. Mana, or chi, in the game fills up rapidly and its entirely possible to spam skills and spells without worrying about running low. This makes combat a little more exciting since players will have a variety of skills to choose from as they level up. Even the casters in Kitsu Saga take part in melee combat, and have the health to endure it. Most low-level monsters do very little damage, and it’s possible to get three or more enemies grouped up and perform area of effect skills to mop them all up at once. The first few dozen levels in Kitsu Saga don’t offer much challenge, but the game manages to keep things interesting nonetheless. Equipment drops are very common, players will have their inventory open and will constantly be upgrading their gear as they complete quests. Class specific skills won’t function if a player has the wrong weapon type equipped, but there’s so much loot around that finding an appropriate weapon won’t be a problem. The only issue with the generous loot drops is inventory management. Players can find or purchase additional bags that expand their inventory, but new players will find their bag fill up within minutes.

A Land of Your Own

While completing their first few quests, players will be rewarded with a rune that holds a Kitsu inside it. Kitsu are fox spirits that recently made themselves visible in order to help humans combat the evil forces plaguing the land. So how do these little floating foxes help players? First, they auto-loot the items dropped by enemies. More importantly, they populate each player’s individual Kitsu Cottage which acts as an instanced homestead. Players can teleport to their Kitsu Cottage at any time from the Kitsu menu, opened by hitting the ‘f’ key. Its also possible to visit the Kitsu Cottage of other players (assuming you’re mutual friends). The Kitsu Cottage is more than a private home – its a whole plot of land where players can put nearly a dozen Kitsu to work mining ore, chopping wood, fishing, herding animals, and crafting gear. Quests explain each step of the process, but it will take some getting used to. There’s a cauldron in the middle of the Kitsu Cottage area where players can upgrade their Kitsu by fusing them with gems that they acquire throughout the game world. Kitsu come in many forms, each with different strengths and weaknesses. Some are better than others at mining or crafting.

All The Rest

Kitsu Saga has some PvP features, but it is not a primary focus. Besides duels, players can team up and fight on instanced battlefields against opponents within a similar level range. Players can also join or found guilds. Guild themselves can rank up to a maximum of rank 5, and there are special guild related quests and dungeons to tackle. Kitsu Saga also has a title feature, wherein players earn various titles by completing certain quests, or defeating certain monsters. These titles each offer different stat bonuses when equipped. Kitsu Saga is one of many oriental themed, free-to-play MMORPGs released in 2010. The list includes games like Martial Empires, and Heroes of Three Kingdoms. Its also very similar to its predecessor, Grand Fantasia, which had a much more anime inspired look. What sets Kitsu Saga apart from the rest is its art style. Some will love it, others will hate it, but its definitely something original.

Final Verdict: Good

Kitsu Saga has a unique character progression system, and an in-depth pet feature in which players can put cute little foxes to work mining, fishing, and collecting lumber. There are plenty of classes to choose from, and combat can get hectic since players will often have to take on multiple enemies at once. The package as a whole will feel familiar to veteran MMORPG players, but the unique art style means its presented in a new way.